Prison Ship Martyrs’ Crypt

 

The monument I chose was the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Crypt. This monument was originally first made in 1808 and placed in Central Park, however in 1873 it was moved to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and moved again to make it bigger. In 1908, a full century after it was first constructed, it was finally placed in its current location. A little known fact about this monument is that it is actually a crypt. Most pages I’ve visited listed it simply as a “monument” but upon further investigations I found out that through this unassuming door lay small catacombs which hold the remains of 11,500 American prisoners who died while being held captive on 16 British War Sloops from during the American Revolutionary War. Atop this obelisk is an urn to symbolize the hidden physical contents of what lurks below,

-Raees

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